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Newt Gingrich: Chicago's renegade mayor

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to sue the Department of Justice because it’s asking the Chicago Police Department to obey the law perfectly illustrates the dangerous disdain the modern Left has for normal Americans.

On July 25, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked all cities, states, and territories applying for a very specific federal law enforcement grant to adhere to three new, very reasonable measures: To openly communicate with the Department of Homeland Security, to allow DHS officers to meet with locally-held prisoners who live in the country illegally and have been arrested for non-immigration related crimes, and to give the Department 48 hours notice before releasing such prisoners.

These are fairly simple, practical, common sense requirements – which the vast majority of cities and states gladly meet. Of course, federal, state, and local agencies should talk to and work with one another to enforce our laws. Federal agents shouldn’t be expected to consult a crystal ball to track down and deport people here illegally who are committing crimes – especially since local police know better than anyone about criminal aliens operating in their communities.
Yet, Mayor Emanuel is defending Chicago’s so-called sanctuary status, claiming that these requirements, “sow fear in local immigrant communities and ultimately make the people of Chicago less safe.”

Really? Chicago – where 4,331 people were shot and 762 were killed last year – will be less safe? Who exactly does the Mayor think will be made safer if local police let criminal noncitizens back on the streets instead of cooperating with federal authorities to deport them?

I agree with Hispanic 100 Spokesman Steve Cortez, who says cities like Chicago deserve a different title. Cortez made the case on Fox & Friends last week saying, “it’s not sanctuary for the victims of these crimes, it’s not sanctuary for the cops who have to deal with known criminals… I’d rather call them renegade cities.”

Cortez did not stop there though. After calling Chicago “the most dangerous city, in the Western world,” he pointed out that Emanuel is a renegade mayor, as well. “Instead of worrying about protecting the children of Chicago, he’s worried about protecting known criminal illegal immigrants – that’s a renegade action,” Cortez said.

Chicago is not alone. The Washington Times reported in March there were nearly 500 states, cities, counties, or other jurisdictions across the country that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

That only accounts for about 2 percent of all cities, counties and states, but this is a big problem because these renegade jurisdictions potentially serve as safe havens for dangerous international crime gangs, such as MS-13, that endanger all our communities.

These gangs pose significant threat to American citizens. As I explain in my #1 New York Times best-selling book Understanding Trump, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment the most dangerous and significant drivers of drug-related crime in the United States are multinational cartels from Mexico.

The DEA reported that the foundation of these cartels is the network of people who run the drug trade infrastructure inside U.S. borders. Specifically, the DEA said, “Actual members of Mexican TCOs are usually sent to important U.S. hub cities to manage stash houses containing drug shipments and bulk cash drug proceeds.”

Now, if you led an international drug cartel, would you set up shop in a city where your undocumented gang members would be deported upon arrest or one like Chicago, where local police looked the other way once you made bail?

Mayor Emanuel would like us to believe that he is concerned about the safety of his citizens, but his lawsuit is nothing more than a political charade. He is literally welcoming more criminals to the streets of Chicago. In his response to the lawsuit, Attorney General Sessions struck exactly the right tone.
“They have demonstrated an open hostility to enforcing laws designed to protect law enforcement — Federal, state, and local — and reduce crime, and instead have adopted an official policy of protecting criminal aliens who prey on their own residents… No amount of federal taxpayer dollars will help a city that refuses to help its own residents,” Sessions said.

Hopefully, the other renegade states, cities, and counties in our nation will heed the Attorney General’s warning and leave their renegade ways behind them.

Newt Gingrich is the author of several books, including "Understanding Trump." He is a former Republican Speaker of the House.